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Measurement and Feedback—Safety Performance Indexing 137

the Value column and the corresponding entries made in the Level column
based on the highest performance level achieved. (Note the “Level” column
is the third column from the right in the matrix and will be multiplied by the
weighting factor to determine the score for each key performance area.)
The final step in using the matrix is to calculate the scores by multi-
plying the Level achieved times the Weighting factor for each key perform-
ance measure and then summing the scores for each measure to calculate a
total monthly safety performance score. Figure 12-10 illustrates these steps
and indicates a total score of 560 for the month. An evaluation of the ma-
trix indicates that goal levels have been achieved for audit scores and in re-
ducing the volume of spills. Further reducing injury rate and improving the
timelines of corrective actions provide the most opportunity for the team to
improve their safety performance index score.
Graphing the monthly scores provides visual feedback on the organiza-
tion’s performance in improving safety. The monthly graph facilitates the
tracking of performance trends, helps identify performance milestones that
merit positive reinforcement, and provides an early warning when perform-
ance has begun to deteriorate. Feedback can be even more effective when
the organization’s goal and comments on monthly performance are added to
the graph of the performance index results.
Figure 12-11 illustrates Smith Industries’ first six months of perform-
ance following implementation of performance indexing. The organization
has increased its performance from the baseline level of about 300 to a cur-
rent score of 560. The performance graph has facilitated positive reinforce-
ment—for example, when performance surpassed 500, Smith Industries’
management visited each department to express appreciation for the out-
standing work done in driving improvement from the baseline level. Safety
performance indexing has proven to be a powerful measurement and feed-
back tool for the company, and the organization is well on its way to achiev-
ing the goals it has established.
Safety performance indexing has many applications. As illustrated by
the Smith Industries’ example in this chapter, the technique can be utilized
to integrate an organization’s numerous key measures into a single per-
formance measurement system. As illustrated in the case study described in
Chapter 15, the safety performance index can also be utilized to calculate
an overall performance level for an organization based on performance
scores achieved within various units of the organization.
One powerful feature of performance indexing is that it provides quan-
tified performance data, and the availability of quantified data greatly en-
hances the organization’s capabilities for reinforcing performance.
Reinforcement of performance is a critical component of the serious-inci-
dent prevention process, and the next chapter describes how reinforcement